Mobile communication handset vendors perform a battery of laboratory tests upon their products prior to release and shipment of the handsets. These tests are performed under closed laboratory conditions in order to confirm the handsets operate as expected and to test the air interface and ensure it meets the relevant standards and is capable of conforming to the relevant communications protocol(s).
Despite this, mobile communication network operators still need to perform in-field testing of the handsets to ensure they meet performance and quality criteria over a live wireless network. One of the relevant tests is termed “call testing” and it involves an assessment of the handset's ability to initiate a call request and/or receive an incoming call request.
Actual call testing of handsets over a live network is a labour-intensive task, since it typically requires that a user like a radio engineer or RF technician manually dial an outgoing call from the handset to a landline telephone set. If the landline telephone set rings, the outgoing call request is successful. For an incoming call test, the user manually dials a call from the landline telephone set to the handset. If the handset rings, then the incoming call request is successful.
Each cycle may take 30 seconds. Often, it is desirable to perform the test cycle up to 1000 times to gather sufficient data regarding the handset performance. This means that the user must often manually perform testing on a handset for up to 8 hours. With test times of this duration it may be difficult to avoid performing a test during peak operating hours when it is desirable to maintain full availability of channels for the network operator's customers.
In order to reduce the impact of network variables, a candidate handset is often tested against a benchmark handset. In operation, this means that an outgoing or incoming call is performed concurrently with a benchmark handset alongside the candidate handset. Accordingly, the user sits at a desk with two landline phones and with the candidate handset in one hand and the benchmark handset in the other hand in order to perform call testing. Outgoing calls to the landline telephones are placed concurrently on the benchmark handset and the candidate handset. Similarly, incoming calls are concurrently placed to the candidate handset and the benchmark handset using the landline telephones. The ratio of successes and failures is tracked for the candidate and benchmark handsets and is used to assess the performance of the candidate handset.
The existing test systems' reliance upon manual operation results in an inability to confirm timing parameters and a limit on the number of handsets that may be tested at one time by an operator. The system is also disadvantageous in that the test is performed at a fixed location within a single cell site so it cannot test handoff capabilities.
It would be advantageous to provide an improved method and system for performing testing upon wireless mobile devices.